Retailing is getting cutthroat. In major metropolitan areas, direct rivals are opening up shop across the street, daring the other to blink and pull up the stakes. Among neighborhood pharmacy chains, Eckerd is now in a fight for its life, as Walgreens threatens to steamroll across its prime markets. Here's the Key Largo, Fla., company's response to its rival's technical and operational encroachment.

Calculating Costs of Developing An Insourcing Strategy
Five years ago, outsourcing technology was hotter than the stock market, and an easy sell to the board of directors. That age of "win-win" has turned into a technology hangover. It is the time to take control of tech services and build an internal operation. Where to begin? Start by downloading this project planner.

Dossier (Online exclusive)

Retek ("The Customizer's Always Right")
Software vendors, like retailers, face an old dilemma: differentiating their wares from those of the company next door. Retek's approach is a more complete menu of retail-management products than the next guy. Peruse Retek's Dossier for the goods.

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Offshore Outsourcing

Hiring outside contractors to develop software no longer qualifiers as a radical move. The question may not be to go offshore, since cheap labor often makes that an easy call. The real uncertainties to resolve are: What work can you bear to part with?

What Security Can Do for You
The cost to business from the SQL Slammer Worm ran into the billions of dollars, according to many analyst estimates. Download this Baselinetool (Excel) to determine the cost of security.

Primer (p.83)

Application Switching
This method of handling network traffic identifies and analyzes packets of information before they reach a server. But do you need to use it? This quick quiz will tell you if you need to make the switch.
Links to articles on the OSI model and on the realities of Layer 8.